hackJinsei to Shi
by Hotaka Takumi
Summary: A work of fiction taking place post Sign but pre Infection. When two friends enter the World, they encounter a powerful monster and they end up stuck in the game. What happens from then on is for you to read.
1. Chapter 1

.hack/Jinsei to Shi

Disclaimer: I, Melvin, do not own anything related to the .hack/ series that may be found in this work of fiction, however, many of the characters are my own original creations and may not be used outside this fiction without my permission. If by some chance the names and characters are similar to that of copyrighted characters, it is merely a coincidence unless the characters that are copyrighted were copyrighted after the day I posted this story. It may still be a coincidence…but you never know.

Note: This story takes place before the PS2 Games and after .hack/SIGN.

** Some random small town in Canada, 3:40pm – June 1st, 2010**

"I got it! I got it!" I shouted, watching the tower of cardboard boxes topple over. I leapt in and caught the few boxes I could, finding difficulty in balancing them all with my two arms. I shifted my body from side to side in an attempt to hold them up but soon lost all control, dropping the boxes, which, incidentally, landed on me.

The girl holding the original tower of boxes popped her head from behind what remained of it saying, "Ah…I'm sorry, Miles. Thanks for breaking their fall though."

"Yeah. It's no problem, Alana." I responded with an annoyed and sarcastic tone of voice. "Do you need any help bringing these boxes to the band room? I can walk home with you afterwards."

"Sure. I want to get home as soon as possible." Recently, Alana seemed really into a video game, like many of the people at our school. It was called, "The World" and it's got modern society hooked. I never took much interest into it. For years now, I've given my focus into art and the world of Anime and Manga.

"It's not because of that stupid game is it?" I helped stack the boxes one over the other into two piles for me to carry while Alana held the remaining ones.

"Don't insult the game until you actually try it. " We started to walk down the corridor while keeping up the conversation.

"I might try it if I had any incentive to."

"What if I did you three favours?"

"Depends on what kind of favours."

"Ew! God no! PERVERT!"

"Not that." I irritatingly grunted. "Like are there any limits to the favours in a non-disgusting way."

"No limits other than the obvious."

"Fine, I'll play. I got the game as a present last year for Christmas so I'll start after school." We arrived at the band room and dropped off the boxes, seeing the teacher and waved to let her know we brought them.

"Great! Start right after you read the instructions. I'll meet you at the Delta root town; it's where you should begin in the game." Alana took me by my shirt and began dragging me off towards the nearest doors.

"Alright, fine." I struggled to say as we hurtled out the school.

Soon after we began walking, we parted ways as I needed to take the bus home while she lived only a few blocks away. It took less than twenty minutes to get home and as soon as I did, I walked into the kitchen and fixed myself a snack with a Coke. I staggered over to my room, placed my food on my bedside table and pulled out the game-gear from beneath my bed. I started my computer first and, before I set up any of The World stuff, I logged onto sites that I frequent and that managed to distract me for like half an hour.

Afterwards, I spent a good hour figuring out how to plug everything in and install the software onto my computer. As everything loaded up, I began reading the instructions. Battling, character classes, locations, weapons/armours, etc., after all that, I heard a small beep coming from my computer, I placed on the headgear and started the game.

The game began, I selected the, "North America – Canada" server and I was given the choice to design my character. I decided on a **Long Arm** class for my character and modified the outfit to resemble more like a knight with a crimson-colour theme. After giving it some though, I chose the name, Hotaka Takumi, Hotaka being the name of a mountain in Japan and Takumi meaning artisan. After doing so, I was sent directly to Delta's root town, Mac Anu.

I slowly analyzed my surroundings. Very classic setting with a smooth atmosphere, something I tend to enjoy. I looked around, trying to spot characters that could potentially be Alana because she never told me her in-game name and no one was around the Chaos Gate.

"I really should have asked for her in-game name…" I sighed to myself, people who were passing looked over and gave a strange look my way. I figured, "Well, maybe she's out hunting treasure or something", so I decided to venture around the town, familiarize myself so that I won't get lost.

I walked around for a couple of minutes, getting to know the people who hung around regularly in the town and saw a boat sailing away with several soldiers on it looking up to a woman which I declared as a **Wave Master **based on the weapon in her hands. She was directing the soldiers and soon after, the boat stopped and the soldiers left. I sat down by the river and looked over at her, later seeing her look back. Naturally I turned away but I quickly glanced back only to find her gone.

"Ara, Miles? Iie…Takumi-kun!" The **Wave Master** greeted, in Japanese no less. It was pretty basic Japanese so I understood.

"Alana…?"

"CHIGAU! Ayaka Sora desu." Her voice was a little more upbeat than when she spoke in real life. It was somewhat strange to see her in this way, almost unfamiliar. Also, she doesn't usually use Japanese in conversation.

"How did you know it was me? And wait…You speak Japanese?"

"I know what I know just what I learn from Anime. And, I could tell from your name." I had often use the name, Hotaka Takumi, when I role played in less virtual places and since Alana had been involved in a few of them, she was able to tell quite quickly. I'm just a slight slow. "I'm sorry I couldn't meet with you right away, I had some business to attend to."

"Business? What kind of business do you have here in a game?"

"I run the Scarlet Sentries, Canadian division."

"What are the Scarlet Sentries?"

"They are a group of selected soldiers that promote the laws of The World instated by the administrators. Since the disbanding of the Crimson Knights, the Scarlet Sentries are carefully watched over by the administrators."

"And you get to tell these guys what to do and when to do it?" My tone of voice implied something much dirtier and it was clear she picked up on it.

"Not when you say it all pervy like that. ECCHI!" She dismissed it right away and called me a pervert, as she always does.

"So what do we do now?"

"Well, first off, you might want to begin levelling. We'll start at an easy level. If things get really hard, I'll bail you out."

"Alright, then."

I got up from my spot by the river and walked with Alana towards the Chaos Gate. She whispered a few words, raising her staff and golden rings swirling around her, Alana's body slowly fading away afterwards. I whispered the same words and resulted in the same action.

As soon as we arrived, a large monster portal stood before us. Seconds after our realizing, the portal disappeared and a small creature lay in its place. Without warning, the monster attacked me but I easily countered its assault. I held my spear high and struck downwards, slicing the whelp in half and resulted in its defeat. Experience points hovered over my head and the corpse lay no longer. It went on like this, fight after fight, and I would continue to gain more experience points and level up. I continued right into the early morning, just killing random monsters.

I had never realized such fun could be had in a game that, from an outsider's point of view, is repetitive killing. I enjoyed the thrill of the kill and when I returned to Mac Anu to save or trade, I spoke to several other players and made quite a number of friends. We traded member addresses and participated in events together but I never ventured into any dungeon without Alana. It took me less than two weeks for me to catch up to Alana, in terms of levels, but I did and collected a great number of items along the way. Although the game was fun, the reality of The World soon transcended to the point of life and death itself. I didn't understand exactly how it happened but after I got out, I never touched the game again.


	2. Chapter 2

.hack/Jinsei to Shi

Disclaimer: I, Melvin, do not own anything related to the .hack/ series that may be found in this work of fiction, however, many of the characters are my own original creations and may not be used outside this fiction without my permission. If by some chance the names and characters are similar to that of copyrighted characters, it is merely a coincidence unless the characters that are copyrighted were copyrighted after the day I posted this story. It may still be a coincidence…but you never know.

Note: This story takes place before the PS2 Games and after .hack/SIGN.

** June 12th, 2010 – 12:07pm **

"What are you doing after school today?" I reached into my backpack and pulled out a bottle of Coca Cola – Classic - , distracted and resulted in my missing what Alana had said. I popped the cap off and gulped down the soda quickly, pulling it away and wiping off some of the pop the leaked away.

I responded quite idiotically with, "I'm sorry, what?" I slid the cap back on and set the bottle aside. I looked at her expression and could tell she was a little more than angry at me. I had a tendency to lose focus in the middle of conversation, always have. She clenched her first for a second but calmed down and her face became very passive. She did not lash out verbally but simply a nudge with her fist.

"Are you doing anything after school?"

"Not really. Did you want to do something?"

"Well, no. I was just curious, but, we could go on The World and party up. There's a dungeon I heard about in an e-mail. It's very difficult to get through but in the last level, there's some great treasure. I don't know how reliable the e-mail is but, it'd be cool to reach that prize."

"Sure, I guess but we should have at least two more people with us. If it's a very high level area then more people will be an asset."

"Why don't you come over to my place and we can play together."

"Sure. I brought my game-gear today because since it's pretty close to the end of the year, the teacher decided to allow all those who had completed their projects to just waste time doing whatever they wish."

We continued talking about random things up until the bell rung and we vacated the cafeteria, as did many of the other students. Few, whom have a free period, remained and continued their conversations. They were mostly seniors and usually stuck around the cafeteria or the library. The library gave them access to the computers as well as to The World. The school board had allowed for students to access The World during free periods and didn't mind.

The day ended soon, although it seemed to last forever, and we walked over to Alana's house, the trip took approximately 16 minutes from time of departure to arrival, excluding the time interval between the official time school ended and departure from the school. I had not visited Alana's house before. It was quite a surprise for me when she invited me at lunch, although, I always remained calm in a majority of situations. She grabbed onto my hand and guided me through her house, all the way to her room. It was a small room, well, not really small, more like…cozy. I stood by the entrance, looking around her room. I spotted posters of Anime on the wall, a small shelf with stacks of Manga and Anime DVD's. She had light blue wallpaper which flattered the rest of her room.

"Make yourself comfortable." She said, sitting down on the ground leaning up against her bed and pulled her computer closer to herself. I walked over and sat next to her, pulling from my backpack, The World game gear. I plugged in everything into the extra ports and Alana turned on the computer.

The World

We arrived in Mac Anu and separated, restocking and saving

Alana and I joined a party of three, making five in total, and we ventured down into a dungeon, I'm not sure where we were but I know it was a very difficult one. We got through the first few levels before we ran into very dangerous trouble. We encountered something so fierce, so powerful; it was unlike anything I had seen before. There was no record of a creature like that anywhere. We fought as hard as we could but in the end, Alana and I were the remaining two.

"We can't handle it. We better get out quickly." Pretty obvious, but we couldn't make it out without killing the monster. Alana cast Repth and head into the back while I tried to fend it off.

"I don't think we'll make it out alive." Even with her healing skill, I was slowly running out of health. "No matter what though, I'll keep on fighting." The ghosts of other players were no longer their. I wasn't sure what happened to them. After they die, their ghosts should still hang around until they get revived. I wasn't able to focus on that and still fight at the same time.

We fought for a while after but no matter how much we tried, we were both down to a single health point and an attack away from death.

"I guess that's it." I huffed, backing away towards the stairs to the level. "I've no regrets. You?"

"I have one, but it doesn't really matter now. We'll restart and I'll send an e-mail to the system administrators."

The monster hovered above us, its shadow engulfing the corner we hid in. It slowly moved its arms into positions and in an instant, slimy spike from its arms sprouted and cut through our bodies with ease. I looked down at my character's body, beginning with the feet, I began to turn a dark shade of grey. Something wasn't right though. Usually, after a character dies, the game would restart and load the data from the last time I saved but not this time. I attempted to do a hard-reboot, meaning I restart externally, but I couldn't move my arms or take off the visor.

"Can you reboot the computer?" I asked Alana but she couldn't say anything. She was stuck in the same predicament I was.

I struggled as hard as I could but when I felt I made even a little progress, I was sent a small shock that managed to knock me out. Everything went black and it's like I knew everything going on around me, I just couldn't move or see. Hours passed before I regained some of my senses. It was strange all that I felt. I could smell fresh air like atop a hill and I sensed a great wave of air pass around me like a gust of cold wind. My senses returned soon after, my body weak for some reason. I was able to move my limbs but very slowly and not with much energy. I slowly opened my eyes and looked upwards to see a very bright blue sky with passing clouds shifting gradually from one side to the other.

"Nani…nani…nani…" I mumbled to myself. Suddenly, I was unable to recall many past memories. I searched my mind and found images of fighting with a woman, sometimes with many people. "Sora-chan…" That was it, wasn't it? Her name I mean. But…who was I? I don't remember a name. I don't remember anything from my life, but this game, I knew all about it oddly enough. I found it frustrating to recall what wasn't there.

"Boku wa dare nan darou?" (Who am I?) I whispered into the wind before something crawled over my face. It was kind of piggish, although not quite. It reminded me of a pig but as it began moving and played around, I found it to be more like a dog.

"Kimi wa…dare?" (Who are you?)I poked the little dog-pig for a little before it growled a little and ran off. I suddenly found myself completely aware of my surroundings for the first time. I was on a cliff or something that resembled a cliff, several small buildings and there were bridges connecting land. Not only that but the place was bustling with people. I approached a man holding a staff and I noticed that he was dressed quite strangely like a magician, only, a slight more effeminate. A male Wave Master.

"Ano ne, sore wa doko ni imasu ka?" (Um…where is this place?) The man looked strangely at me but quickly changed to an expression struck with inspiration. For several moments he paused without another word but then, he responded.

"Dun Loireag." He smiled and left quite abruptly. I found it queer how it took him so long to respond to a simple question but as I recalled my last few words, it appeared I was no longer speaking English but Japanese instead. Strange.

I spoke to a few other people and managed to pick up fluent English but from time to time, I found myself speaking bits of Japanese. It never seemed to be a problem before. After what seemed like twelve hours of my life, I returned to where I had woken up only to find someone sitting where I was. It was a girl and she was lying down on the ground with her staff beside her. I sat down next to her and turned upwards.

"What are you looking at?" She sat up straight and looked at me with interest. She gave me a soft nudge on my arm and lay back down.

"Takumi-kun, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Takumi, don't play dumb."

"I think you must have the wrong person. I'm not Takumi…well… I'm not sure who I am but I don't think I'm Takumi."

"Stop it. This isn't funny. Everything feels strange. I can't log out, I can't move my real body but I can feel everything in this world."

"…" I thought for a second. She was in a similar situation to me. She acts as if she knows me. So maybe she does. "Are you…Sora?"

"Of course I am! Who else would I be?"

"And I'm…Takumi?"

"Yes! What is the matter with you all of a sudden?"

"I'm having a slight case of amnesia but I am exactly as you are, within the game."

"Do you seriously not remember?"

"I'm sorry. It's not something I would lie about."

"There was a similar event a while back. A young girl who was playing The World had fallen in a coma and her character, Tsukasa, was unable to log out. According to the report submitted to the CC Corp, the character could feel everything within the game. If that was true, something similar may have happened to us."

"That sounds highly unlikely. First off, this is a mere game. How could we be trapped in the game?"

"I'm not sure…but to quote Sherlock Holmes, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' What happened back then must have happened to us now."

"What do we do, then?"

"Let's find out all we can about the history of the World as well as what happened with the player-character, Tsukasa."


End file.
